ITIL - Service Operation Overview

Service operation ensures that services are being provided efficiently and effectively as per SLAs. It includes monitoring services, resolving incidents, fulfilling requests and carrying out operational tasks.

Key Points

◉ Service Operation includes five process and four functions.

◉ Service operation deals with day-to-day activities and infrastructure that are being used to deliver the services.

◉ Service Operations is where all design and transition plans are executed and measured.

◉ From customer point of view, Service Operation is where actual value is seen.

Service Operation Processes

Service operations include total five processes as described in the following table −

Sr.No.	Process & Description
1	Event Management The objective of this process is to make sure all CIs are monitored constantly. It also filters and categorizes the events in order to decide on appropriate actions.
2	Incident Management The purpose of Incident Management is to restore the service to the previous stage as early as possible.
3	Request Fulfillment This process deals with handling requests such as change password, create new user and create email id etc.
4	Access Management This process deals with granting rights to authorized user to use the service.
5	Problem Management This process deals with finding root cause of the problem and prevent incident to occur again.

Service Operation Functions

Service Operation comprises of four functions as shown in the following diagram −

Service Desk

Service Desk is the first and single point of contact. It plays a vital role in customer satisfaction. It coordinates activities between end user and IT service provider team. It also owns the logged requests and ensures closure of these requests.

There are four types of Service Desk −

Central Service Desk

In this, there is only one central Service Desk.

Local or distributed Service Desk

It is costly but closer to the user. It is difficult to manage and maintain.

Virtual Service Desk

It is very costly and result in fast processing.

Specialized Service Desk

It includes dedicated skilled staff for specific queries.

IT Operation Management

This function is responsible for managing organization’s day-to-day operational activities

Technical Management

Technical Management staff includes technical expertise that is responsible for management of overall IT infrastructure.

Application Management

Application Management is responsible for managing the applications and software throughout the lifecycle of the service.